Thursday, March 16, 2017

Just Thirty Pounds

Before I had Piper, I lost 40 pounds. I had gone from somewhere around 270 pounds down to about 230 pounds. I did it by eating within moderation {counting calories}, moving more, drinking a lot of water daily and getting a good amount of sleep at night. It didn't all happen at once. I would have minor set backs, a gain here, a bigger loss there, etc. I persevered through it all and right before getting pregnancy in 2014, I had lost and maintained my loss of 40 pounds.

When I became pregnant with Piper, I stopped counting calories, of course. I ate intuitively throughout my pregnancy and did so for a while after Piper was born, too. I had gained about 40 pounds during my pregnancy, going from about 230 lbs to 270, again {only this time for good reason}. Piper is two years old now and I am almost back down to my pre-pregnancy weight, for the second time postpartum.

I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight once before, very shortly after giving birth, but then I gained about 15 pounds throughout my first summer of being a stay-at-home mom. It was all so new, and I was learning a lot about being a new mom, a new stay-at-home mom, and then a new stay-at-home mom turned building-her-own-at-home-business-at-home mom. It took me a while to learn how to give myself grace throughout it all. I thought I had to do everything right; it took me a while and another 5 more pounds gained before I realized that there is no right way when it comes having your first child and starting a business from scratch all in the same year.

In the thick of it all, when I was first starting my business and mothering my ever-changing baby month-by-month, I wouldn't eat much throughout the days. I was so busy doing everything else that I didn't take the time I needed to take care of myself. By the end of each day, after Piper was asleep for the night, I could be found in front of the fridge. The night-time binge. It was a bad routine that lasted for months. Since I have PCOS, the weight came on fast, and I settled in at about 253 pounds for a while -- 20 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight, and 17 pounds below my highest weight.

Piper is two years old now and I am finally back to losing weight on a fairly consistent basis again. I joined a HealthyWage challenge in January and it has given me a lot of motivation to stay on track. I have been counting my calories again, drinking all of the water I need and planning out my meals regularly. I have been focusing more on myself, and it's paying off.

Just last Friday, I weighed in at my lowest weight in two years: 239 lbs. I haven't been in the 230's since that brief moment in 2015, shortly after giving birth to Piper. I wish I could say I was ecstatic, but it's not really the case. Instead of celebrating this milestone of being 30 pounds down from my highest weight, I found myself saying that "it's just 30 pounds". I thought back to when I had lost 40 pounds and said to myself, "now that's an accomplishment".

I'm not proud of these thoughts, but they did cross my mind. Of course 30 pounds down is a great accomplishment, if someone else were to tell me they lost 30 pounds, I would be so excited for them! Never would I say to someone else, "well, that's just 30 pounds". Never.

It's time to start being my own cheerleader, again. It's time to start treating myself with the same kind of love and enthusiasm that I share with others. So, here's what I have to say to myself:

"It doesn't matter how long it's taken you to get back down to a total of 30 pounds lost. What matters is that you did it. 30 pounds is a big deal! That 30 pounds lost is weight that is no longer bearing down on your joints. It's 30 pounds of mobility gained. It's 30 pounds lifted off of your shoulders. You did a great job! Keep up the good work and DON'T EVER GIVE UP!"

Thanks, Melissa! The HealthyWage challenge isn't over yet! We're able to submit our final weigh-in anytime now through the end of the month! I will post our results as soon as we weigh-in. Still working on getting a total of 6% loss for our team! :)

Welcome to Goal of Losing

Hi! I'm Kalyn but, feel free to call me Kay. Titled from my goal of losing 100 pounds, this blog is filled with simple recipes, healthy living tips and updates from my every day journey of losing weight while living life.